Category: Book Reviews

Once Upon a Dream by Liz Brasw..

Posted 04/17/2019 by Charli in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

If you’re familiar with Sleeping Beauty, then you already know what Once Upon a Dream is going to be about. But trust me, this isn’t your Mom or Grandma’s Sleeping Beauty. Liz Braswell has woven a tale that asks what if it required more than just true love’s kiss to break the curse on Aurora? What if Maleficent had to be defeated before the curse could be broken? The world building in this story is top-notch. I didn’t even realize what was actually going on until a good way into the story. In fact, I didn’t figure out what was happening until just before Aurora figured it out. Fans of Sleeping Beauty who crave a stronger princess will love this book. While I didn’t enjoy Once Upon a Dream as much as I did As Old As Time, this book still gets a solid 4 stars for awesome character use […]

As Old As Time by Liz Braswell

Posted 04/14/2019 by Charli in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Who doesn’t love the tale of Beauty & The Beast? Well, except for a few people who seem to be hell-bent on dragging Disney’s version of the classic tale through the mud, claiming Belle has Stockholm Syndrom (which is actually addressed in this book). But have you ever wondered who the Enchantress was? Why she was so worried about this particular prince? Well, As Old As Time might just give you the “canon” answers you want. As Old As Time explores the possibility of what would have happened had the Enchantress been Belle’s mother. I know, in the live action version of Beauty & The Beast, we are told that Belle’s mother died of Plague. But honestly, I like this idea much better. Liz Braswell has done an amazing job of bringing the characters to life – including the ones that she created such as Alaric, Frederic, and Rosalind. She’s […]

The Wicked King by Holly Black

Posted 04/12/2019 by Charli in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Another great novel that takes place in Faerie. You can really get a feel for how things work in the land of Faerie. You get to see war, love, betrayal, and you even get twists and turns you may not anticipate. This book could not have been a more perfect sequel to The Cruel Prince. Questions were answered, more questions were raised. You got to see what makes Jude and Cardan tick. I’ll be honest, I’ve been shipping them since The Cruel Prince. Locke, well, I’d like to smack him because I don’t think he’s right for Taryn and he’s such a brat. Then again, by the end of The Wicked King, I’d rather have beaten Taryn, Madoc, and Cardan than look at them. Cardan made me wonder what the hell he was thinking/doing, but I suppose the next book will give me the answers I need. This was another […]

The Cruel Prince by Holly Blac..

Posted 04/10/2019 by Charli in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Stories about Faerie fascinate me. The many different takes that never fail to include one common thread – Faerie is cruel, violent, & just plain a place no one should want to go. The Cruel Prince is everything Faerie is made out to be, but with one twist – mortals, humans, can play the games as well if they’re smart about it. Jude is the one who doesn’t fit in, kidn of wants to, but at the same time wants to fit in on her terms. She wants to be one of them, but not? Jude wants to fit in by being a member of the Court as someone’s knight. Taryn just wants to fit in. She just wants to be one of them, but not in the same way her twin sister Jude does. Taryn wants to fall in love and become the wife of one of the Gentry […]

The War Blog by Glen Sobey

Posted 03/28/2019 by Charli in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

If there is one thing I can’t stand, it is a social justice warrior. Most of the ones I’ve run across never go farther than retweeting, reblogging, sharing and arguing with people who don’t share their world view, all while using hashtags like #staywoke or #justicefor(insert name here). I can’t stand them because they don’t get away from the keyboard and screen to do anything to affect change. But the social justice warriors in The War Blog by Glen Sobey aren’t like that. Kato doesn’t just blog about Native problems in Alaska, he speaks to classes about them. He tries to make his people see that they need to make changes. Crystal also makes it a point to affect change. Yes she has her blog and her songs. But she also comes up with ways to help make changes. She tells the stories that need to be told and tries […]